


I Want You to Lead Voltron.

by jessruinslives



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, In Which Shiro is like 19, Kinda, M/M, Rated T for language, Slow Burn, also maybe violence, probably ;), so y'all can't get mad at me, takes place after The Black Paladin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessruinslives/pseuds/jessruinslives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> "No no no no..." the red paladin murmured as the surface of the planet quickly grew closer and closer. All at once, the alarm stopped, the lights stopped flashing, and the Red Lion crashed into the ground. </i>
</p><p>After the showdown with Zarkon, Keith and a seriously injured Shiro find themselves on a deserted planet with no way of contacting their friends. When the Galra show up with their sights set on retrieving the Black Lion (and catching the paladins), how will Keith figure out how to save himself and his friends?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_The Red Lion was out of control._

_Keith struggled to stop spinning after being ejected from the castle. He heard the panicked voices of his friends coming from his helmet and knew that he wasn't the only one in trouble._

_“What’s happening?!” he heard Lance shout. Keith began to reply, but was distracted when lights started to flash on and off and an alarm began to whine inside his lion. He went into overdrive, pushing every button and pulling every lever that could possibly get him out of this situation. No matter what he did, Keith wasn’t able to control his lion. Over the sounds of the alarm and blood rushing in his ears, he heard one more voice call out._

_"Guys! Just stay ca-" Shiro's voice (along with everyone else's) was abruptly cut off as Keith erupted from the wormhole. He was hurtling towards a small planet with no sign of slowing down. Fire clouded his vision outside the lion as he entered the planet’s atmosphere. He tried desperately to slow his descent even a little bit._

_"Shit! No no no no..." the red paladin murmured as the surface of the planet quickly grew closer and closer. All at once, the alarm stopped, the lights stopped flashing, and the Red Lion crashed into the ground._

\- - - - - -

 Keith awoke to sunlight shining directly in his face. He squinted against the harsh light and absentmindedly wondered if windows had been installed in his room while he was sleeping. He sat up groggily and felt around for the knife he kept under his pillow. When he wasn’t able to find neither the knife nor his pillow, he looked around in confusion to find that he wasn't in fact in the Castle of Lions. He had somehow ended up sprawled out over the control panel of the Red Lion.

_Wait._

 All at once, Keith remembered the events of just a few hours ago (or days? He wasn’t sure). He shot to his feet but immediately regretted it as a sharp pain pounded through his head. He winced, but the pain faded to a dull ache after a few seconds. He looked down at himself, and he didn't seem to be injured besides his migraine and a few small cuts and bruises from being thrown from his seat when he crashed. No missing limbs, no huge bloody gashes, nothing. He considered himself lucky, considering the circumstances. _How about the others?_ he thought worriedly. Keith looked around and noticed his helmet, which had somehow made its way towards the other side of the cockpit. He made his way over to it and put it over his head, praying that it still worked

 "Hello? Is anyone there? Coran? Allura? _Shiro?!_ "

 Keith called out for everyone on the team, but all he received was static. _Damn it_ , he thought. _Either my helmet doesn't work, or I'm out of range._ He sighed, discarding the helmet and walking over to the windshield of the lion to examine his surroundings. Outside, he saw a vast desert, seemingly devoid of any life. Boulders were scattered all around, and it seemed he was surrounded by them on both sides. As he looked further, he noticed smoke billowing up on the horizon. Keith wondered if the smoke was coming from a house or a campfire. He also wondered if it was a trap. After a minute or so of weighing his options, he decided to investigate.

Keith went around, picking up a spare backpack and putting essentials in it that he'd stored in the Red Lion beforehand. He filled the bag with water bottles, small bags of space goo, a first aid kit, and other helpful items. He also packed his helmet, just in case. He had no idea how long it would take to investigate the mysterious smoke, so he might as well be prepared for anything, right? After exiting the Red Lion, bayard in hand, Keith looked up and was amazed to see that the ship was almost completely unscathed from the crash, despite landing the way it did. He guessed he just got lucky again. He then thought about trying to hide the vessel from any potential enemies, but figured it was shielded enough by the boulders. There was a small opening between the rocks that allowed him to access the lion, but it was harder to find if you weren’t actively looking for it.

 He set off towards the horizon, trying to ignore the intense heat radiating from above. After a while, it became too much so Keith indulged in one of the water bottles, then quickly started moving again. The farther he walked, the more he found his mind wandering to his friends. Were they okay? Where were they? Oh god, were they even _alive?_

 _Stop._ he scolded himself. _Worrying isn't going to do anything. You can work on trying to find them once you figure out where you are._

 Keith was surprised at how quickly he was growing closer to the smoke. After only a few hours, he found himself on the edge of a crater overlooking the smoking object. He strained his eyes to try and see through the smoke, but wasn’t able to determine what the source was. He started to slide down into the crater, hoping to get a closer look. The closer Keith got to the bottom of the crater, the more he was able to see the object. When he finally recognized it, his heart dropped into his stomach. Keith suddenly lost his footing, stumbled, then rolled the rest of the way down. He landed hard on his knees and stared at the object in shock.

 It was the Black Lion.

 And it was completely destroyed.  

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> possible tw for blood mention

 The Black Lion was practically torn apart.

 There were gashes and holes of various sizes on almost every part of it, it’s jaw was completely unhinged, and the front left leg and the tail were missing altogether. The source of all the smoke seemed to be near the back of the lion, and it was now beginning to dissipate. Keith snapped out of his daze and sprinted towards it.

 “SHIRO!” he yelled and immediately clapped his hand over his mouth, mentally kicking himself.  _ It could be a trap, _ he reminded himself again. 

 As he approached the gaping mouth of the Black Lion, Keith noticed that it was a lot darker inside than it was in his own lion. He pulled off his backpack and bent down, taking out his flashlight. He hoped the batteries would last for a while. He hesitated for a second, then took a cautious step into the ship, trying to be as quiet as possible. Even so, the sounds of his footsteps echoed throughout the thin corridor. He shivered. It was significantly cooler inside the lion. As he grew closer to the cockpit, Keith realized that besides the sharp clicks of his own steps, it was a lot quieter than he had hoped. No indicator that Shiro was alright and  _ alive _ could be heard. Only absolute silence. Keith tried not to let that bother him. 

 By the time he arrived in the cockpit a minute later, Keith’s heart was pounding and a nervous sweat had broken out on the back of his neck. He wiped it off with a gloved hand. Shining the flashlight all around the compartment, he was relieved to see that it wasn’t nearly as damaged as the outside, but it still wasn’t  _ good.  _ Chunks of metal from the ceiling littered the floor and the windshield was completely shattered. The seat was tilted back awkwardly.  _ I guess I really did get lucky,  _ Keith thought with a shudder. He continued shining the flashlight around the room, then suddenly halted when the light illuminated a pool of blood collecting towards the control panel. He bolted to where it was coming from, and nearly dropped his flashlight when he saw the source. 

 Shiro. Formidable, strong Shiro. The man who was always so powerful and sturdy was now sitting up against the control panel, appearing weak and lifeless. His eyes were closed and his torso was covered in dark red blood. From the light provided by the flashlight in Keith’s shaking hand, he was able to see the cause of the coma-like state of his friend. A large chunk of metal -- assumedly from the ceiling -- had pierced through his armor and was protruding from Shiro’s gut. Keith gagged and covered his mouth. He didn’t think he’d ever seen so much blood. It didn’t seem to be actively bleeding at the moment, but Keith assumed that would change once he removed the piece of metal. 

 After recovering from the initial shock, Keith knelt down next to Shiro. He tried not to think about the fact that the bottom halves of his legs were covered in his friend’s blood. He placed two fingers under Shiro’s jawline to check his pulse. He held his breath then released it when he felt a heartbeat. It was weak, but it was there. He cautiously reached out a hand and touched Shiro’s shoulder. 

 “Shiro…?” he breathed, and when he didn’t answer, Keith repeated it again, raising his voice a bit. After doing this a few times, Shiro’s eyes fluttered open. They were unfocused and relatively vacant at first, but then his eyes landed on Keith. He blinked, confused. 

 “Keith…” Shiro rasped, blood dripping from his mouth. 

 “Shh.” Keith demanded, pulling Shiro’s helmet from his head and wiping the blood from his chin. The red paladin’s mind was racing, trying to figure out how he was going to treat the wound. _I_ _  should probably start with- _

 Keith’s thoughts were interrupted when Shiro spoke up again. “W-where… are we?” he breathed. 

 “I said shh.” Keith reiterated. “I’ll tell you after I’m done treating your wound” he said, then reached a hand out towards the shrapnel sticking out from Shiro’s stomach, but Shiro stopped his hand.

 “You okay?” The older boy’s eyebrows were knitted together in concern. Leave it to Shiro to be worried about someone else when he’s literally bleeding out. 

 “I’m fine.” Shiro gave him a skeptical look. “Seriously, I’m ok. I’m gonna need to remove this from your stomach, ok? Take a deep breath,” Keith said, taking Shiro’s light intake of breath as a ‘go ahead’. Keith tried to pull it out quickly so he wouldn’t be in pain for as long, but it was proving to be difficult to remove. It only moved about an inch or two. Small amounts of blood spilled out from the edges of the gash. Shiro gasped, eyes squeezing shut. 

 “Sorry! Let me try again. Brace yourself.” Keith tried again, and it slid out of Shiro’s stomach with a soft squelching noise, which was drowned out by Shiro’s sudden scream. Tears pricked at the edges of his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, and his breathing suddenly became even more shallow. Keith thought his heart might break, but immediately got to work, removing the top half of Shiro’s armor so he could properly check out the gash. It had started to bleed even more, so Keith reached into his bag and pulled out the first aid kit. He figured that the wound was too deep to just bandage up, so he grabbed a needle and thread. He looked up at Shiro, who was still taking sharp breaths, eyes squeezed shut.

 “Shiro, I’m gonna close up the wound. You ready?” Shiro nodded, his jaw set. Keith pushed the needle through the skin on the left side of the wound and weaved it through the right side and back again, threading the skin together inch by inch. All that could be heard was Shiro’s shallow breathing and occasional gasps. After Keith finished stitching up the wound, Shiro was covered in sweat, but his breathing did seem slightly steadier. He saw this as a good sign, so wasted no time grabbing the bandages from the kit and tightly wrapping them around Shiro’s stomach. He was relieved when the bandages weren’t immediately soaked through with blood. 

 “Can you breathe alright?” Keith asked. Shiro took a deep breath and coughed a little, but gave him a weak smile and a thumbs-up. “Well do you think you can drink anything? You need water.” 

 “I could try.” Shiro’s voice was still hoarse. Keith nodded and gave him a water bottle from the bag. Shiro lifted it up, but his hand was shaking so badly that he wouldn’t be able to keep it still enough to be able to drink from it. Keith gently took it back and raised the mouth of the bottle to Shiro’s lips, tilting it slowly. He took a few sips, then held a hand up, signaling for Keith to stop. 

 “Thanks, Keith.” Shiro said, giving his friend a weak smile. Keith nodded, returning the smile. 

 “Do you want to sleep now?” Keith inquired. 

 “Yeah. I t-think there’s a blanket somewhere.” Keith stood up and headed towards the back of the cockpit. Various items were scattered everywhere, like scraps of charred paper, chunks of metal, and a blanket. He picked up the blanket and was glad to see it was still in one piece. He brought it back to Shiro, who was still leaning against the control panel, and covered him with the blanket. He then made his way over to the other side of the panel and sat down until he heard Shiro make a noise. When he looked over at him, Shiro was holding up the right side of the blanket, looking over at Keith expectantly. “What are you doing? It’s cold.” he said. Keith got back up and sat with Shiro, the blanket covering their legs. They sat in silence like this for a while. Keith assumed Shiro had fallen asleep until he coughed quietly and said: “Hey, Keith?”

 “Yeah?” 

 “If I don’t make it out of here…” Shiro began.

 “Shut up. You’re gonna be fine.” Keith spoke with so much surety that Shiro seemed better for the moment. 

 “So… what happened?” Shiro inquired. Keith took a deep breath. 

 “After the fight with Zarkon, we were trying to leave through a wormhole but it was...corrupted? We were all sucked out of our hangars and then thrown out of the wormhole. You and I landed here, but I’m not sure about the others.” he explained. 

 “Were you able to get in touch with anyone?” Shiro asked worriedly. 

 “No, but I’m sure they’re alive. They’re all pretty strong. And I bet Allura and Coran are searching for us as we speak. We’ll be out of here in no time.” Keith reassured him. He was also trying to reassure himself. The more time went on, the more worry was eating at him. 

 “Yeah… I think we’ll be ok.” Shiro muttered. Keith yawned. He didn’t realize it before, but he was  _ really _ tired. This felt like the longest day of his life, and now he just wanted it to be over. He closed his eyes. 

 The last thing Keith remembered before finally dozing off was something gently squeezing his hand.   

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I'll try and make the next one longer :)


End file.
